The impact of President Biden

When Donald Trump first was elected to office the interviewers on the BBC, Channel 4 and the other leading channels were keen to interview UK government politicians to try to get them to denounce Mr Trump and all his possible future works. I do not recall them pressing hard to see if the UK would learn from the Trump tax cuts, to put more money into the wallets and purses of  working people in the way Mr  Trump planned. Nor do I recall them criticising European walls and fences to keep migrants out whilst roundly criticising Trump’s plans to extend the US/Mexican wall. I did not hear interviewers asking UK Ministers if they might copy more of the Made in America programme Trump set out with a Made in UK version.

When Joe Biden was elected the direction of attack shifted to the opposite approach. The early interviews were all to make UK Ministers feel uncomfortable that they might not be close enough to the new President. Now we have seen his proposals UK politicians are often invited to express approval of the huge stimulus programmes  President Biden proposes, and asked whether they will match them. There is obvious joy at his wish to green US policy, and favourable mentions of his company tax rises. There is  no interest in what higher world corporate taxes  recommended by Mr  Biden might mean for the Republic of Ireland.  There is little criticism of the new President and his plans.

Those parts of the media that are financed by taxes or adverts and have a Charter that requires them to be impartial should seek to be impartial between Republican and Democrat as well as between the different parties in the UK. The journalists should also dig beneath the spin. Biden’s national resilience policies look very like Trump’s Made in America policies. Biden’s much lauded tax rises say they will not impose any tax rise on anyone under $400,000 a year, thereby validating the Trump tax cuts for most people. Biden’s announced withdrawal from Afghanistan is the Trump plan delayed by  few  months.

157 Comments

  1. Newmania
    May 5, 2021

    I once posted a short list of Trumps inflammatory statements which was obviously deemed to offensive to be published here .
    You wonder if John Redwood is at all conscious of how absurd that is

    1. Shirley M
      May 5, 2021

      You assume they were not published because they were offensive. Maybe your comments were somehow distorted or taken out of context, as the press often does. Like replace the word ‘curiosity’ with ‘concern’ and you have a great accusation of racism.

      1. jerry
        May 5, 2021

        @Shirley M, Non so blind, and all that… Your concerns about what Mr Trump actually says and what is reported do not appear to worry others who have regularly engage(d) in such distortions about politicos they dislike, and thus you have totally missed the point @newmania was making.

    2. DOM
      May 5, 2021

      What is a ‘Domestic terrorist’?

      1. agricola
        May 5, 2021

        Mrs Mop with a Kalashnikov.

        1. James1
          May 5, 2021

          I miss President Reagan.

    3. Lifelogic
      May 5, 2021

      Indeed, as usual the BBC, Channel 4 and the likes only do “Guardian think” a paper that almost no one other than the BBC ever buys. These types wrong on climate alarmism, wrong on the levels of taxation, wrong on Brexit, the size of the state sector, wrong on the dire virtual state monopoly NHS and schools, wrong on the current lockdown, wrong on ever more regulation of everything, wrong on energy, wrong on the EU … Dim lefty art graduate group “think”.

      Still at least the deluded John Snow is finally leaving Ch. 4. But doubtless some other totally misguided lefty dope will be found to replace him.

      1. Jim Whitehead
        May 5, 2021

        LL +1

      2. Timaction
        May 5, 2021

        Indeed. Its obvious that all televised media is now left of centre woke brigade and not worth listening too. All out of step with the British people. Andrew Neil’s new news Channel cant come soon enough.

        1. Jim Whitehead
          May 5, 2021

          +1

        2. jerry
          May 6, 2021

          @Timaction; “[the new GB News] Channel cant come soon enough.”

          Indeed, as its viewing figures will either prove or refute your assertion that all other UK television news channels are “out of step with the British people”, of course should the venture flop the hard right will have their conspiracy theories ready…

    4. Peter2
      May 5, 2021

      What relevance or purpose would that post have served NM ?

    5. Fedupsoutherner
      May 5, 2021

      Newmania.. We all have posts that are left out. It’s John’s site and he can chose to put in what he likes. Get over it.

    6. Hope
      May 5, 2021

      Biden has created humanitarian crisis at southern border helping to promote human trafficking while pretending it is not happening.

      Patel doing exactly the same across English Channel. Announced yesterday as part of the alleged trade deal immigration for Indian students and young will be made easier!!

      Johnson is a daily horror show. He must be ousted. Biden and Johnson share the same left wing socialist ideology.

      Trump was a very successful conservative president. The gulf between Johnson and Trump is clear.

      1. Jim Whitehead
        May 5, 2021

        +1

      2. The Prangwizard
        May 5, 2021

        Agree on the invasion horrors. My daughter lives in Arizona and the truth of what is happening on the border with Mexico is never reported truthfully here, or there for that matter. ‘Boris’ is just as much of a danger to our integrity and sovereignty as Joe is to the US.

        1. Lifelogic
          May 6, 2021

          +1

    7. acorn
      May 5, 2021

      Donald Trump watched the Capitol being stormed on Jan 6th; on television. He chose not to do what a president should have done, mobilize the federal government to secure the Capitol. He chose not to speak to the mob which consisted of his supporters to tell them to leave, for hours after the Capitol had been invaded.

      This failure to act allowed Trump’s insurrectionist intentions to be delivered by the mob. In the UK, the ERG does not yet have a rabble-rouser to match Trump standards. Also, its the neoconservatives have yet to work out if they are advocating a globalist intervening foreign policy or an isolationist taking back control of our borders policy.

      1. MiC
        May 5, 2021

        He urged them to “fight like hell”, rather.

      2. Iain Moore
        May 5, 2021

        He did actually, his offer was refused by Pelosi , bad optics I understand was the reason there were no national guards there to manage the crowd.

      3. Philip P.
        May 5, 2021

        Acorn, you’re ignoring the fact that Trump’s administration (the Defense Dept. and the Justice Dept.) advised the Capitol Police in advance it would need extra manpower on 6th January, but the senior police officials turned down the advice.

        You also don’t seem to know that around 2.30 local time, shortly after the Capitol was breached, President Trump tweeted his supporters: ‘Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!’ (This is from Wikipedia, no fans of Trump.) Forty minutes later, he tweeted: ‘I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence!’ He then released a video at around 4:20 pm CST telling protesters to ‘go home and go in peace’. In other words, Trump did what you claim he didn’t do. He told his supporters again and again not to riot, starting very soon after the trouble began. You can say he stirred them up in the first place if you want, but once the ugly situation had developed, he tried to calm his supporters, not rouse them to violence. That doesn’t fit your story, though.

        1. Jim Whitehead
          May 5, 2021

          P.P. +1 but it doesn’t, as they say, ‘fit the narrative’. When does deliberate distortion and omission become recognised as propaganda or even corruption? Any answer from the BBC?
          Intolerable behaviour should not be tolerated.

        2. acorn
          May 6, 2021

          “As the chaos unfolded, doubts were raised about whether Trump would order the DC National Guard to respond due to the slowness of the response. Public statements by acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller and other top officials suggested it was Pence who ultimately approved the decision. Miller’s statement Wednesday seems to indicate he did not even speak with Trump, discussing the matter with his deputy instead as sources told CNN the President was reluctant to even denounce the violence being carried out in his name.” (Google -Pence took lead as Trump initially resisted sending National Guard to Capitol)

          1. Philip P.
            May 6, 2021

            ‘Statements suggested’….’Miller’s statement seems to indicate’… ‘sources told CNN…’

            Some really ironclad reporting there!

    8. IanT
      May 5, 2021

      It seems to me that everyone was so keen to get rid of Mr Trump that very little effort was made to examine Mr Biden’s policies or track record. Nor was much credence given to the fact that his health might not last the full 4 year term and that Kamal Harris would then ‘inherit’ the Presidency.

      The media does seem to think that everything Mr Trump said and did was wrong and that everything Mr Biden says and does is right. I’m waiting for the honeymoon period to end and for reality to kick in, then we’ll see if the media pundits can be a bit more honest in their critique of his policies.

    9. Tad Davison
      May 5, 2021

      Get thee behind me Satan! Why is it that lefties can never see beyond the biased neo-liberal garbage put out by the mainstream media, and search the truth out for themselves?

    10. MiC
      May 5, 2021

      John’s reticence to post certain comments is, I think, revealing of where he senses the weaknesses – sometimes fatal I would claim – of his political and economic beliefs lie.

      The better world for which he claims to hope cannot be built on shifting sands and he knows this.

      Perhaps he’s willing to settle for something rather different?

      1. Peter2
        May 5, 2021

        Start your own blog MiC.
        You tell us your views are right.
        Stand up and see if you really are.

      2. MiC
        May 6, 2021

        I tell you what John permits me to tell you and no more.

        1. Peter2
          May 6, 2021

          Well you seem to be successful in posting many times each day.
          Count yourself fortunate.
          Try getting a contrary post published on the Guardian or Independent sites.

        2. X-Tory
          May 6, 2021

          Frankly, I don’t understand why Sir John allows you to say anything here. You are a xxxx and come here merely to abuse his hospitality and generosity. I limit myself to no more than two posts a day as I do not want to impinge on Sir John’s valuable time. You litter the place with your hateful, anti-British inanities. Not only do you insult Sir John and waste his time but you make these columns a chore to wade through. I would much prefer to read fewer but more interesting posts, written by patriots, not Britain-haters. Leave won. We are out of the EU and will NEVER return (as the conditions for readmission would deter even most Remain voters). Either get over it or just go away.

          Of course there are many Brexit supporters (such as me, and even Sir John himself!) who are not happy with all the details of the arrangements currently in place, and it is right to discuss how these can be improved, but any such debate must take as its starting point that we are going to increasingly separate from the EU, not re-attach ourselves to them. Britain is a sovereign, free and independent country and shall always remain so. If there is any alignment of rules to take place it is the EU that must copy and follow OUR rules, not the ther way round. Either you agree with that or you have no place in today’s Britain, let alone these columns.

          1. Peter2
            May 6, 2021

            Excellent post X Tory

      3. Paul Cuthbertson
        May 6, 2021

        MiC – not always in agreement with you but fully agree on this. If a comment or question by a reader/viewer is too close to the truth it does not get published.
        We have to follow the establishment newspeak, do we not!!!!!

  2. Mark B
    May 5, 2021

    Good morning.

    The attacks on former President Trump were disgusting. Here was a man who wanted what was best for his country and countrymen and sought office so he could implement such policies. He was very successful with many black and hispanic Americans voting for him. He was also tough on crime and supportive of the police and armed forces. In short, he was a true Patriot in the founding fathers spirit. It was this Patriotism that drew ire from his detractors, the Left.

    It is no secret that the Left in this country want to denigrate it and all those who show any patriotism. They label it nationalism with a hit of fascism thrown in for good measure. The media is stuffed full of Champagne Socialists. They are Blairite, New Labour supporters who believe in Big State and trade Unions. All this give Labour more money and power. The sooner this is recognised the sooner, we hope, that something can be done about it.

    1. Timaction
      May 5, 2021

      Not just the media. All leaders in health, police, Councils, schools and other Government departments, quangos are infested with woke/PC types and the former conservative Tory Party have done nothing about it after 11 years in office. Not a proud record. Judge by actions not words from Priti types.

      1. Cheshire Girl
        May 6, 2021

        I totally agree.

    2. The other Christine
      May 5, 2021

      ++

    3. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      Good comment, Mark B

  3. agricola
    May 5, 2021

    There is little point in bleating about the left wing “Guardianista” out pourings of the BBC and Channel 4. You are in power, do something about it, while you can. Cast news and current affaires to the commercial world where customers can choose to pay rather than being taxed for the pleasure.
    At times I get the impression that the BBCs current position is maintained for the sole purpose of giving the compulsarily taxed British public something to moan about. A built in Aunt Sally. A distraction from other government failings. Perhaps Boris and partner like the BBC.
    One thing is clear, shuffling chairmen has no effect on the outpourings of the BBC.
    The only positive action has been taken by Andrew Neil, I look forward to what his channel has to say on the political scene. It might not be what you wish to hear but it might be more constructive.

  4. Sea_Warrior
    May 5, 2021

    The wheels are already coming off Biden’s wagon. Today’s highlights: restaurant owners hold a jobs fair in a city with high unemployment – and nobody comes; in Washington (state), the unemployed can stay that way – on a welfare rate equivalent to $28/hr; a steel manufacturer cancels a $1 bn + investment; stimulus cheque money is either being saved or spent on imported goods. Will I see any of these stories on the Beeb today? I think not. The corporation has an overtly leftist political agenda. It’s time it was sold off. Action, please, Sir John. And don’t forget Channel 4!

    1. rose
      May 5, 2021

      What the media have told us today is that President Trump is to continue with his status as Russian dissident in his own country – except that Russian dissidents these days seem to be allowed to tweet, unlike the President. Mayor Giuliani is only the latest of the President’s circle to be raided by the FBI, presumably in an attempt to rig the trials coming up in connection with the assault on the Capitol. And all at the time when there is this charade going on at Lancaster House in the name of protecting democracy! Of course Lancaster House has form: it was where Lord Carrington handed over Rhodesia to Mugabe, despite a lawful, democratic election having returned Bishop Muzorewa.

  5. Lester
    May 5, 2021

    I sincerely wish that we had a Donald Trump figure here
    He donated his $400.000 salary to charity and being President cost him a substantial amount of money as revealed in the Forbes rich list

    Obama was a relatively unknown lawyer from Hawaii and now he’s extremely wealthy, he’s just built a mansion on the shoreline at Martha’s Vineyard…. one can draw one’s own conclusions!

    1. Timaction
      May 5, 2021

      Surely not as with climate change it’ll be under water soon. Not!

    2. Fred.H
      May 5, 2021

      Who would have said Blair was wealthy, now he is no longer PM …

  6. Richard1
    May 5, 2021

    The BBC has long given up any pretence of balance in its coverage of US politics. It’s better to use other sources for US news and opinion.

    1. glen cullen
      May 5, 2021

      Unless the threat of pulling the BBC Charter is real, the BBC can continue doing whatever they like

  7. Lifelogic
    May 5, 2021

    Of course so much of the advertising on LBC, Talk Radio and the likes is pure government propaganda “adverts” and doubtless this often has some influence on the editorial line taken. You pay you taxes then they spend you money telling you how they want you to “think”.

    1. Lifelogic
      May 5, 2021

      So Sunak will spare us a wealth tax it seems. The reality is that existing taxes NI, CT, IHT, VAT, CGT, duties, council tax, rates, licence fees, Stamp Duty, fuel duty, insurance IPT tax, many licence fees, road tax, Enveloped Dwelling Tax plus all the rest can easily steel 90% of your wealth off you over just 20 years or so. Then we have all the overregulation or everything, tax complexity and the insane net zero agenda. These are all wealth taxes mate.

      Alas the daft socialist Sunak has already announced massive tax increases to come in very shortly. They will raise less tax not more and diminish the tax base. What is needed is for you and Boris to stop pissing money down the drain on green crap, HS2 and hugely bloated government get real you economically, illiterate fool.

      1. Jim Whitehead
        May 5, 2021

        LL +1
        Your apoplexy is fully understood and shared.
        Conservatives, why, and wherefore ?
        I saw the real thing in the 1980s, but followed only by some ghastly and ineffectual shadow ever since. Nothing there worth a cast vote.
        May and johnson thought to denigrate Donald Trump in cringe-worthy asides and comments. Lilliputian midgets both.

  8. Ian Wragg
    May 5, 2021

    Sleepy Joe isn’t incharge it’s the commie Harris.
    There will be rampant inflation which will hit the poor and make those with assets rich.
    It’s part of the great reset like net zero to transfer wealth to the already rich.
    The BBC are loving it.

  9. Andy
    May 5, 2021

    I thought Biden was a poor choice of candidates for the Democrats. I had low expectations for his administration but realised he could not possibly be worse than Trump.

    I have been shocked at just what a good start Biden has made – particularly considering the absolute mess he inherited from the former guy. It is the best start to a presidency since FDR.

    What the Trumpists and Brexitists do not seem to understand is that style is as important as substance. Trump would have achieved more had he sensibly and calmly explained his ideas rather than ranting and screaming at the other side – most of whom considered him a dangerous idiot.

    The Brexitists also seem to think those opposed to their Brexit will be won around with howls of anger and shouts of phrases like ‘shut up we won’, ‘traitor’ or ‘respect democracy’. I can assure you this strategy will not work. The way to win your argument is to prove you were right. I’m betting a border down the Irish Sea, rotting fish, tonnes of pointless paperwork, visa waivers and threats of war with France over fishing near Jersey that you never will.

    1. Richard1
      May 5, 2021

      Interesting post, and I agree with you that Trump would have done far better not to insult and denigrate his opponents. Unfortunately Democrats, including even Biden, are now doing the same. That seems to be the calculation in the US – rubbishing and insulting your opponents is thought to shore up your own support. It would be better if it were otherwise.

      Trump in office had some good achievements to his name, he should have just run on them: a standout economic recovery amongst comparable nations, with real income growth especially at the bottom end and record employment; a robust and successful foreign policy without starting wars. Of course there’s stuff to criticise also.

      But could you also reflect on your message in the context of the tone of your own posts. Perhaps you are different in person, but in the medium of Sir John’s blog I’m afraid you are (usually) among the very shrillest and rudest contributors.

      1. rose
        May 5, 2021

        How on earth do you manage to infer tone from a short essay? If you think the tone is shrill, then it must be that you yourself have supplied it. This happens a lot with email. People imagine a tone which is not there in the flat text and take offence.

    2. rose
      May 5, 2021

      The ranting and the screaming – and a whole lot worse – was done by President Trump’s enemies, not by him. He had a quiet manner but I don’t suppose you noticed.

      We had a ranter and screamer on the air this morning, courtesy of the BBC. She accused the President of being an anti vaxxer! Who does she think enabled the vaccine programme in historically record time? It was Kamala Harries who declared twice, during the VP debate, that she would not take it. Facts don’t come into it where the hysterical left are concerned. It is all hatred and violence which decides.

      1. Jim Whitehead
        May 5, 2021

        Rose, well said.

    3. MiC
      May 5, 2021

      Well, if they didn’t before, the burghers of Jersey now can see the claim that “they need us more than we need them” for the utter baloney that it self-evidently always was.

      1. Peter2
        May 6, 2021

        Would you switch off electricity to hospitals and care homes and children’s homes if you had the power MiC?
        Would you.
        You tell us you are a caring and sensitive fair minded socialist.
        So would you?

    4. X-Tory
      May 5, 2021

      Hahaha – people like you make me laugh. You are so arrogant you believe that you matter and that Brexiteers want to ‘win you round’. Err, no, we don’t. We know that Britain-haters will always be Britain-haters: hate is what haters do. There is nothing that can ‘win you round’ – so why even bother? We therefore no longer care what you think, now or ever. Fortunately, people like you are in the minority, so your views do not matter. We, the British patriots, will simply move forward with Brexit and if you don’t like it you can lump it … and go and live in a country you actually have some allegiance to.

      1. MiC
        May 5, 2021

        That’s the best bit of projection that I have seen in a long, long time.

        Keep it coming, it’s a revelation.

      2. Peter2
        May 5, 2021

        Well said X -Tory

    5. jon livesey
      May 5, 2021

      Just a very gentle hint, but convincing you is not the same as winning the argument.

    6. Fred.H
      May 5, 2021

      Andy – since I haven’t followed this Presidency, I am interested in your ‘ what a good start Biden has made ‘ view. Please elaborate for me (and others).
      I wait to be informed, if you would be so kind.

  10. jerry
    May 5, 2021

    I seem to recall Sky News (partially financed by advertising [1]) leaning over backwards, something carrying their (then) US sister station, to pronounce the merits of Candidate Trump, and going on to highlight every finger wag and policy announcement of President Trump as if perpetual motions had been discovered, I also seem to recall the right wing press in the UK doing similar.

    If our hoist, and his many devout followers were arguing for a totally unbiased MSM here in the UK I would be in full support but that is not what seems to be the goal, many appear to want anything but, bias is good, very good, just so long as it favours the right wing, and the harder the better… If anyone has a serious complaint of bias, be it with the BBC or CH4, why do they not put their case to the regulators, rather than engage in a whispering campaign against the broadcasters, if they feel regulation has failed then make the case for better regulation, but they will never do so because they know it would be greeted with calls for better press regulation too…

    Also, Mr Trump was a political unknown, not having held any public office before, unlike Biden whop had been in the Capitol since the early 1970s and has served two terms as Vice President, the US MSM and electorate know Joe Biden’s politics pretty well by now, on the other hand the much media interest (especially outside of California) did exist, and still does, with regards VP Harris.

    [1] the adversing revenue model of funding is even more vile than the TVL fee as there is no escape, at least one can choose whether to buy a newspaper or watch broadcast TV

  11. None of the above
    May 5, 2021

    About the Media? Says it all, really.

  12. middle ground
    May 5, 2021

    If Trump had restricted his statements to policy and process rather than incitement and personal attack he may have received a fairer hearing. Whatever you think of Biden’s policies he is a great deal more gracious than his predecessor.

  13. Nigel
    May 5, 2021

    Boris lost his bottle, and should have decriminalised non payment of the TV licence fee. The BBC will not change and is working to get rid of him.

    1. jerry
      May 5, 2021

      @Nigel; Decriminalising TV licence fee evasion might make it difficult to prosecute someone who manages to evade, say, the BSkyB encryption system I suspect, abolishing the TVL fee is a totally different matter.

  14. MFD
    May 5, 2021

    I listen this morning at 08:20 to BBC Radio 4 and the presenter is interviewing a government minister. As he gives his answer, if its not the one she is looking for the volume and tone of her voice rises.
    The BBC Has not for a long time adhered to their charter to be totally neutral. They must either be driven into line or cast to the market place As I for one do not want to pay for left wing propaganda.

    1. rose
      May 5, 2021

      This presenter is on about £270,000 a year, yet is also employed by private companies at £5-10,000 a time to speak or interview. Funny how that doesn’t seem to count as sleaze. The interviewer is one of the most raucous in her daily denunciations of the PM.

      1. jerry
        May 6, 2021

        @rose; Surely, as a Conservative, you are supportive of the Free Market etc, no? There is no sleaze, just very obvious jealousy – on your part!

        1. rose
          May 6, 2021

          BBC presenters are unelected, unrepresentative, unaccountable, and tend to be in office for their whole professional life. What they are paid is immaterial to my point, other than that they should be able to manage without outside inducements, as they are paid twice as much as the PM. They have huge power and influence which they daily abuse. According to them, if a politician accepts payment from someone else, he can be accused of sleaze and brought down in an election. So serious do they deem their charge to be, that they demand punishment without establishing what the truth is. The companies who can afford the sorts of fees these presenters are commanding, are just the sort of companies they would object to being donors to the Conservative Party; just the sort of people the presenters would assert were exerting undue influence by making payments.

          My point was nothing to do with the free market or being a conservative or jealousy, and everything to do with consistency.

          1. jerry
            May 6, 2021

            @rose; I thank you for your opinion, even though you choose not one mention of the political power that newspaper editor and journalists have, nor any mention of those TV presenters (often praised on this very site for leaning to the political right when reporting) who earn as much, if not more, as the BBC presenter you seem to appear to hate with added bile. Not one mention of all the company directors, some of them media companies, who also earn more than the PM…

        2. Peter2
          May 6, 2021

          Is there a real free market when you compare politicians salaries with media salaries?
          Perhaps you you could give us the benefit of your opinion Jerry.

          1. jerry
            May 7, 2021

            @Peter2; What a silly comment, you’re trying to compare apples with beetroot – well the edible bits of both are round in shape…!

    2. jerry
      May 5, 2021

      @MFD; “The BBC Has not for a long time adhered to their charter to be totally neutral.”

      They have never had to be “totally neutral”, such a requirement would make one-on-one interviews impossible, the job involves asking challenging questions, perhaps needing to take the opposite stance, be devils advocate, in your mind be biased. All the broadcasters simply have a duty is to be balanced, and that doesn’t even necessarily mean allowing both side of opinion at all times, separate interviews are acceptable, perhaps a week or more apart (this approach is common at General Elections, the Leaders Interviews).

      What you appear to want is the BBC to simply ask Ministers; ‘Is there anything you would like to tell the BBC audience?’, and then giving said Minister an open mic for how ever long! Thankfully the BBC stopped engaging in such a deferential (if not kowtowing) approach to political interviews back in the 1960s!

      “I for one do not want to pay for left wing propaganda.”

      Fine, but what about those who did not want to pay for right wing propaganda, but were also stuck between a rock and a hard place, either funding a certain subscription based British satellite broadcaster (thus its news and current affairs programming) or giving up watching top-end Footy on the live TV?
      No one has to watch TV. No one in the UK pays directly for the over-the-air radio service…

  15. agricola
    May 5, 2021

    I will judge Biden on his ability to understand the Irish Protocol and his attitude to a UK/USA trade deal. Otherwise I see him as a slightly more articulate form of Trump, but ultimately no better.

  16. Iain Moore
    May 5, 2021

    A bit like Brexit where the media suffered from Brexit derangement syndrome, they also got Trump derangement syndrome really bad. They were incapable of making any impartial report, they exposed themselves for what they now are, political activists , and even though it is frustrating to see their double standards , especially how we now see them report on the Biden/Harris administration , they cannot erase in people’s minds their overt political activism against Trump, with the result they will never recover any sort of status , no message of theirs will be accepted without first being put through a political filter, essentially they trashed their own reputation. I hope they think it was worth it.

    1. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      Nicely interpreted and nicely expressed, I.M.

  17. beresford
    May 5, 2021

    Biden has apparently said that all Americans must get ‘vaccinated’. How he intends to enforce this remains to be seen,

    1. MiC
      May 5, 2021

      Well, he could pass a law, perhaps?

      Has been known…

      1. jon livesey
        May 5, 2021

        Among your other areas of ignorance, you might wish to look into the split in legal powers between States and the Federal Government. It could help with your general education.

        1. MiC
          May 6, 2021

          Yes, he’d have to amend the Constitution maybe.

      2. Peter2
        May 6, 2021

        The Senate would have to pass a huge change to a major part of the Constitution.
        It is very unlikely they would.
        And then there us the upholders of the Constitution the Supreme Court to beat.

  18. Alan Jutson
    May 5, 2021

    Trump lost the election in a large way due to the Covid factor, at that time it was a developing pandemic with no treatment and rising deaths, Biden is at present riding the horse of mass vaccination output and falling deaths,. The vaccines were developed whilst Trump was President, but not approved or instigated or used until after the election result.
    Biden is still in the honeymoon period, it will change in time as many of his policies work through and start taking effect, he has however made a sensible decision not to get involved with a daily tweet comment.

    1. rose
      May 5, 2021

      Interesting how Big Pharma held back the final stage of the vaccine process artificially. Trump wanted to make medicines cheaper for Americans.

    2. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      We’ll be hearing more of ‘The Big Lie’ in due course. The boiling pot will pop its lid. even for the purblind.

  19. Bryan Harris
    May 5, 2021

    Indeed, and while Trump had a positive effect on the USA and the world, Biden is out to destroy every last good thing possible.
    Anybody that imagines Biden will do anything but speed up the demise of the west and a takeover by the NWO is clearly reading syndicated news media that cares little for the truth. How much more evidence do we all need to see that the mainstream media is simply propagating outright propaganda.

    There is so much propaganda now on TV, even adverts push the green message so blatantly, with half truths and outright lies – They still show images of polar bears on one particular advert, suggesting there is a problem with them – a lie from way back, but we all know Polar bears are thriving.

    The media are doing all of this why? It is certainly not for the good of the planet nor for our benefit.

    The Biden administration never had any credibility and are proving his denouncrs right constantly.

    1. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      +1

  20. nota#
    May 5, 2021

    Most things ‘Trump’ were reported out of context to placate the Left.

    Sir John – you also missed the successful vaccine role out in the US would not of happened if the Trump administration as with the UK’s hadn’t thrown money at the problem ‘big time’. Biden is relishing in the glory that is the result of Trumps determination and hard work.

    The left generally and the left MsM of the UK didn’t like Trump pointing out, that so-called allies were great on speeches but kept coming up short on commitment and money. The rest of the World conveniently forgets to fund the UN, members of NATO never comit pro-rata either in monetary or resource terms. So when Trump pointed that out he is being hostile.

    When Trump told the EU that there import duties at 400% more than what the US applies the opposite way around were un reasonable and they had to change. The EU and the Left MsM were in uproar, how dare he suggest their protectionist racket was unfair to the rest of the World.

    Personally I thought he was an egotistical idiot that was his own worst enemy, but his heart was in the right place for those he served.

    Not sure about the new administration yet lots of talk and no action, not helped when Hilary turns up in the UK and gives a speech saying that Brexit was the result of Russian interference in the UK. That clearly isn’t true as the UK Government is still refusing the wishes of the people and wont permit our independence from the EU. Look at the Channel Islands this morning, the EU give us you fish or we cut of your electricity – the Channel Islands unlike the main land UK were never in the EU.

  21. David Brown
    May 5, 2021

    Sir JR
    I do agree with you on some topics for the day.
    However you can probably guess I’m going to totally disagree with you on today’s topic.
    In my opinion Biden is proving to be a world statesman and leading the US out of a very dark stain on its recent past.
    I would agree with you about reducing tax for the lower paid. The big difference is I don’t agree with any tax cuts for the top rate of tax.
    Overall we have a balanced media and freedom for journalists to ask questions they feel is appropriate must be preserved.
    Or we end up with journalist censorship.

  22. Roy Grainger
    May 5, 2021

    I’m not sure why the left-leaning media, including the BBC, are so obsessed with all things American anyway, it’s like they see us as a mere colony of America. Having told us for years that our future lies in Europe you would have thought they’d give it a bit more – or indeed any – attention, for example the interesting CDU/CSU manourevrings in Germany.

    1. MiC
      May 5, 2021

      Do you realise who most of the top figures at the BBC are?

      Apparently not.

      Tim Davie, its Director General and Editor-In-Chief was deputy chairman of the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Party.

      There are plenty more, notably in News.

  23. Fedupsoutherner
    May 5, 2021

    Yes, I would like to know why the media and in particular the BBC aren’t reporting in the same negative fashion with such bias as they did with Trump too. Why aren’t they critical of Biden’s interference regarding the EU and Ireland? I see the EU threatening to cut Jersey’s electicity off over fishing rights to be almost an act of war and yet Biden and the media are quiet over this. There wasn’t one positive things said about Trump when he was in power and yet Biden seems to be replicating much of what Trump wanted to do. I was sickened by the way the BBC trashed Trump and are sucking up to Biden and I dread to think what our government will do when they hear what the USA plans to do regarding the climate and how much money they are going to throw at it. I think I can already hear Boris saying we will match it. God help us.

    1. Mark B
      May 5, 2021

      I too read the threats made to Jersey over fishing. Utterly disgusting.

  24. Sir Joe Soap
    May 5, 2021

    We shall soon enough learn how harmonising corporate taxes between the larger countries and smaller ones like Ireland, Lithuania etc works out. Will R & D allowances be similarly harmonised?
    There again, why are we raising corporate taxes in the UK?

  25. Hat man
    May 5, 2021

    ‘Journalists should dig beneath the spin’, Sir John? Not if they want to keep their jobs in the mainstream media. That is not what they’re paid to do, and they have careers and mortgages to think about.

    There have been brave journalists digging beneath the spin. One of them has been locked up in Belmarsh prison for over two years now. Another one was chopped up in a Saudi embassy.

    Better to play safe. Hunter Biden’s laptop? No story. Ballot-rigging? No story. Hydrochloroquine and Ivermectin work against Covid 19? No story.

    There’s only a problem if we expect the media to report the truth.

    1. MiC
      May 5, 2021

      Well, you unintentionally reveal a truth.

      Today, the BBC’s news home page billed as a “must see” the reports by the Telegraph and the Express into the matter of bringing military personnel accused of crimes to justice, or not, as they apparently would rather.

      Why, exactly “must” I read their highly partial reports?

      1. Peter2
        May 6, 2021

        It might make a change for you from just reading the Guardian?

    2. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      Hat Man, you’d better get a helmet. You’re on target and they won’t like it.

  26. Qubus
    May 5, 2021

    It’s a bit early in the day for an “off-topic” comment but, if Sir John will allow, here’s one.
    I read in today’s paper and also heard on the BBC that our French friends are threatening to cut-off Jersey’s electricity if they cannot resolve their dispute over fishing rights in Jersy waters.
    Is this another example of the von der Leyen school of diplomacy? With friends like these, who needs enemies?

    This immediately leads on to my belief that it is a mistake to let any foreign power have control over any important UK facility: energy, nuclear power, defence matters, transport, data security, ciber security …

    1. The Prangwizard
      May 5, 2021

      I would class that as an act of war. But what will ‘Boris’ do? What has he done so far, nothing. He’ll concede to the demands of the French thugs – again. What will Sir John do in response? He may possibly make some gentlemanly disappointed comments but perhaps nothing. Party loyalty will always come first.

      1. MiC
        May 5, 2021

        He’s clearly pandering to people with the same silly outlook as you patently display, actually.

        1. Peter2
          May 6, 2021

          Just imagine Trump had threatened to cut off power to Jersey MiC
          Would you be so relaxed MiC ?

      2. jon livesey
        May 5, 2021

        It’s not Boris’ responsibility to enforce discipline among EU members. We signed a Treaty with the EU in good faith, and if someone like Macron tries to sabotage the EU’s reputation as a law-abiding negotiator, then the EU should sort that out, not Boris.

    2. Dave Andrews
      May 5, 2021

      The French story seems to revolve around a comment a French official made, who I doubt has any legal power to carry out the threat.

      1. glen cullen
        May 5, 2021

        EDF Energy is owned by Électricité de France, 85% owned by the French government…….so maybe they do have the legal power

        1. Fred.H
          May 5, 2021

          Well we have allowed ‘johnny foreigner’ to own vital services to UK.
          Wake up and smell the coffee time, eh? Sir John?

      2. Fred.H
        May 5, 2021

        typical French bravado.

    3. MiC
      May 5, 2021

      It is an example, proof in fact, of how the sovereign nations of the European Union are pretty well completely free to act as they see fit in circumstances such as these, that’s what it is.

      These reported proposals are nothing whatsoever to do with any institution or official of the European Union.

      1. jon livesey
        May 5, 2021

        Very good point. It should be a warning to the rest of the World that you can sign a Treaty with the EU in good faith, and then a loose cannon like Macron, who simply wants to make a nationalistic stink before the next Presidential elections, can come along and sabotage the whole thing, and the EU is too clumsy, weak and foolish to do anything about it.

        1. MiC
          May 6, 2021

          It’s proof that being a member of the European Union does not affect the very sovereignty which is of paramount importance to English nationalists, that is, to make the exact same gestures to other countries that the French have just made to the Tory UK and its dependencies.

          Oh, the irony.

        2. MiC
          May 6, 2021

          Ah, sorry – you wanted to behave like that to fellow member countries. I see…

      2. Peter2
        May 6, 2021

        It shows that the French government behave as outlaws.
        Against expected conventional behaviour of both the EU and the UN

    4. Sea_Warrior
      May 6, 2021

      There’s a certain irony here. It’s only a few weeks since the government announced that it would be building an ‘MROSS’ for the Royal Navy, to check that the Russians weren’t about to interfere with undersea cables and pipelines carrying essentials to our islands. But the most immediate threat, it seems, is some shifty Frenchman hovering by the ‘off’ switch on the French coast.

  27. Peter Parsons
    May 5, 2021

    Despite campaigning in 2015/16 on a platform of eliminating the US national debt, in his first three years in office (pre-Covid), Trump’s policies increased it from $19.5 trillion to $22.7 trillion.

    Borrowing money that other people have to pay back and then giving it away in tax cuts is easy to do.

  28. William Long
    May 5, 2021

    It is so much easier to go with the perceived flow, isn’t it? The alternative is to have to make the effort to think through, and then to prepare and present your case. But it is not just journalists who fail to ‘dig beneath the spin’. Politicians are equally guilty; I find it very hard to recollect any politician of any party, except for yourself, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson who was in any way positive about what Mr Trump was offering.
    Conservative politicians should have been providing answers tthe the same list of questions you set out for the journalists, and they didn’t.
    One ray of hope is that Mr Sunak is reported to have decided not to embrace Biden style capital taxes.

  29. Derek Henry
    May 5, 2021

    Morning John,

    Trump also smashed every US government spending record in history and said Biden’s spending plans are too small.

    See you can have spending increases AND tax cuts if ideology steps out of the way. Ideologies on the left and right that lie about both.

    1. Peter Parsons
      May 5, 2021

      Both are entirely possible if you increase borrowing (which Trump did despite having campaigned to eliminate the US debt entirely).

      1. Derek Henry
        May 6, 2021

        Hi Peter,

        Hope you are well.

        Borrowing is a reserve drain. That allows the BOE to hit it’s over night interest rate target. Monetary policy absolutely nothing to do with fiscal policy.

        The national debt why would you want to eliminate that ?

        It’s the private sector savings sitting in an account at the FED as US treasuries.

        Sounds to me that you have fallen for the household budget anology. That government finance is exactly like that of a household ?

        Which is a myth.

        1. Peter2
          May 6, 2021

          Try telling the poor starving people of Zimbabwe and Venezuela that.

  30. kb
    May 5, 2021

    Good to see that you are noticing how the BBC, Channel 4 et al have been taken over by the metropolitan elite and their identity politics/virtue signalling world view.
    I’m old enough to remember when the BBC was biased towards the Tories!

  31. Edwardm
    May 5, 2021

    Yes.
    The bias in the broadcast media is obvious and demonstrably provable.
    Why are the current requirements for impartiality not being enforced?
    And sanctions need to be stronger.
    Why is the current Conservative government not removing the BBC licence fee now? Why do they say they can’t do anything before fibre roll-out is complete ? The BBC could use subscription service technology that has been available for years.

    1. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      Em +1

    2. anon
      May 6, 2021

      Because the BBC is not controlled by license payers but by the government and appointed ones. Selected from safe hands known as the establishment, old boys network etc

      Lets see Biden’s impact is viewed after the various election forensic audits patiently unfold in due course. Will the US re-run its election or remove a sitting administration?

      Oh. Wireless from satelites & Cell towers will roll out faster than fibre. Once you get a certain speed its mostly fast enough.

  32. a-tracy
    May 5, 2021

    Our newspapers are too obsessed with Megan Markle and Prince Harry to report on Biden unless it is to tell us he is threatening the UK, especially The Express let the Markle show go and just stop, leave them in peace. I’m more interested in what the UK government is up to on Green issues for example the lobbyists are wanting the government to insist that our NEST and other private pension schemes are invested in green projects with no choice of the saver. So the 8% compulsory extra National Insurance disguised as NEST is at the whim of UN climate chiefs and film-makers. So now this government has swapped the EU excuse with the UN excuse for not concentrating on the priorities they were elected to sort out instead of raiding the savings of private sector workers.

  33. DavidJ
    May 5, 2021

    Biden is at best useless and at worst extremely dangerous. We would do well not to get close to him or imitate his policies.

    1. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      Dj +1
      Concise and accurate.
      Biden’s record, past and present should be staple material for any comedy or satire show.

    2. rose
      May 6, 2021

      Quite right, David. But I fear our government is being dragged into some dirty Iranian deal, whereby we hand over hard currency in return for the current lot of hostages, incentivising more to be taken in the future, and enabling a great increase in terrorism, while the Iranians continue to develop their nuclear weapons. Obama tried it last time and it was disastrous for the region, but at least we weren’t involved.

  34. glen cullen
    May 5, 2021

    Remove the BBC Charter and privatise the BBC as soon as possible – job done

    1. MiC
      May 5, 2021

      The BBC has been almost totally privatised, apart from news, for obvious reasons – the Government can still influence that pretty directly.

      Keep up.

      1. Peter2
        May 6, 2021

        So why do they need the licence fee billions MiC?

        1. MiC
          May 6, 2021

          To pay the out-sourced production companies for the programmes that they supply, those who operate the now privately-owned transmitters, control rooms, and studios, or who supply outside broadcasts facilities, and for all the rest of the many things which are involved in maintaining their output, such as artistes’ fees and coverage rights to sporting bodies.

          What else did you think?

          1. Peter2
            May 6, 2021

            You said they were almost entirely privatised MiC
            So if your ridiculous claim is correct they don’t need billions in State aid.

          2. Fred.H
            May 7, 2021

            So STOP enforced State licence paying and charge pay for view.

          3. MiC
            May 7, 2021

            If the BBC sold itself directly to subscribers, then how would the Government control it?

            That is clearly paramount and why the model has never changed.

    2. jon livesey
      May 5, 2021

      The original theory behind the BBC was that as a leader and educator it should not be subjected to the same competitive forces as other media.

      Today, we are at the point where over several decades the BBC has essentially thrown away its position of credibility by adopting the same standards and commercial amorality as the rest of the media, so it makes no sense to protect it from the same competition they experience.

      We now have an anomalous situation where the BBC is funded by the public’s money but behaves as if it was a private company, not answerable to those who fund it. That situation obviously cannot continue for very long.

      We should either privatize the BBC and let it compete with the rest of the media, or compel it to go back to being a reliable and objective source of news and information. My preference would be for the former, because setting standards for something like the BBC is highly subjective, and opens the door for dangerous proposals like Corbyn’s “supervised media”. I don’t want to live in a Corbyn-like World in which certain journalists are identified as “public interest” and then paid for by taxpayer money, like some Warsaw Bloc propaganda engine.

    3. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      Long overdue

  35. glen cullen
    May 5, 2021

    Diplomats from India didn’t have to isolate upon arriving for G7 London

    We’re all equal, just that some are more equal

    1. a-tracy
      May 6, 2021

      glen two arrived with covid, weren’t they tested before the flight, our government advisors are idiots, we’re locked down for a year because they keep making the same mistakes with visitors from high incident areas.

  36. Martin W D T Ward
    May 5, 2021

    The sickening bias of the radical liberal-left leaning mainstream media, especially the BBC, is palpably obvious but very few dare to point this. It was said that if Presidnet Trump was seen walking on water across the Potomac River the shrieking liberal-left would claim that it was because he couldn’t swim!

    Some small parts of Biden’s massive squandering of tax-dollars might be regarded as worthwhile investment – on the roads and other infrastructure, for example -but the majority of it is not ‘investment’ at all unless one regards turning America into the USSA (United States of Socialist America) as being an ‘investment’ since it will produce no future returns.

    This massive socialist squandering, if it gets through Congress, will undoubtedly end badly. In the selection process, during which Vice President “Camella” Harris was ceremoniously ousted at an early stage, Biden was fondly named Biggest Idiot Democrats Ever Nominated.

    President Obama said of Biden, ‘Never underestimate Joe’s ability to screw up’ and now he is about to do just that with his socialist squanderings.

    1. MiC
      May 5, 2021

      You cannot hope to bribe or twist
      Thank God! – the British journalist
      But seeing what the man will do
      Unbribed there’s no occasion to

      …and it has always served the Right extremely well.

    2. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      M.W.T.D.Ward, There’s much in your second paragraph to be known and understood by the journalists and commentators. The investment in Infrastructure means something quite different from the usual definition. Another attempt to bypass scrutiny by the juvenile commentariat and, of course, the BBC.

  37. glen cullen
    May 5, 2021

    BBC reporting as a small footnote that coastline carol reefs in the Indonesia have recovered by mass 55%…….if it had lost 1% by mass it would be headline news

  38. Mark Thomas
    May 5, 2021

    Sir John,
    We shouldn’t forget President Biden’s success in pushing for the development and roll-out of a covid vaccine in record time, all of which he managed to achieve even before coming to office.

  39. a-tracy
    May 5, 2021

    I don’t care for American politics, I don’t care who gets elected as President. What actually makes me laugh out loud is how the newspapers are trying to explain away the awful photograph of the Bidens with the Carters, if the Trump’s had done that and published the photo they would have been pilloried for trying to look bigger, they’d have been accused of manipulating the image on purpose – he’d have been ridiculed for trying to appear a bigger man than the ex-President. The battering that the couple took from the media was mean, unpleasant and frankly bullying. Boris should pay attention because he’s in ‘their’ sights, Boris is a more seasoned politician than Trump though, people say they want politicians to say things straight, speak off the cuff unscripted, not avoid awkward questions – but they really don’t all leaders have to varnish the truth some get away with it without scrutiny others don’t.

    Trump’s electorate was insulted, alienated, and cleverly isolated. It is fascinating to watch this play out, people cancelled online, investigations quashed, things suppressed. I best shut up now before I get cancelled.

  40. Everhopeful
    May 5, 2021

    The treatment of Trump was terrifying.
    Has any other President of the US ever been dealt such shameful disrespect, whatever his faults and virtues?
    His successor, who came to office with much tribulation, seems to be causing alarm in some quarters by taking the mantra of “Spend, spend, spend”rather too literally.

    1. Marko
      May 5, 2021

      What do you mean his faults and virtues? what faults? what virtues? – the guy is nuts

      Is that what you want imbeciles in charge – it might be what Putin or China want – dumbo

      1. Peter2
        May 6, 2021

        Ah the kind caring left in action
        No post without a personal insult.
        Well done Marko

  41. Everhopeful
    May 5, 2021

    Of course Trump did claim to be anti globalist, which if true and not some weird double bluff type politics would not have endeared him to MSM.
    The viciously dangerous way in which they sought to split America in two is deeply rooted in every vile Marxist revolution.
    And the chaos and bloodshed therein.

  42. X-Tory
    May 5, 2021

    Yes, Sir John, the BBC and C4 are grotesquely biased against conservatives. But I cannot have ANY sympathy for this government since they are the ones responsible for this!!! The government has a majority of 80 – use that to completely revamp the senior management at both these broadcasters. Of course the Left will howl with rage and accusations of bias, but as I keep saying: I want a government that will confront our enemies, not appease them. A couple of years ago an opinion poll showed that a majority of Britons want a strong leader. Unfortunately that man is not Boris Johnson. As I pointed out yesterday, he will always take the path of least resistance, and that why he appeases our enemies both at home and abroad.

  43. John C.
    May 5, 2021

    Sir John, Basically, you’re saying that our biased left-wing media are supporting left-wing policies of an American president. And that they were desperately unfair to Trump. That seems to me so obvious that it must rank as beyond debate.

    1. Jim Whitehead
      May 5, 2021

      Quite so, John C.

  44. turboterrier
    May 5, 2021

    Aĺl well and good but we cannot say we have not been warned.
    This is the western leaders leading us like lambs to the slaughter. China is ecstatic.
    https://www.thegwpf.com/europes-heavy-industry-unlikely-to-survive-net-zero/?mc_cid=ec27d5320c&mc_eid=4961da7cb1

    1. Everhopeful
      May 5, 2021

      That makes very grim reading.
      China owns a lot of the uk’s debt, I believe.
      We’ve been sold, lock, stock and barrel.
      And now they are coming for our means of production.

  45. XY
    May 5, 2021

    Yes I agree, although I didn’t really like Trump as a personality, he didn’t need to be anyone’s best friend to be the best leader. The alternatives were far worse.

    Trump’s policies were spot on – just not what the modern bleeding-hearted American (or Brit) wanted to hear. Looking after their economy by ejecting illegal immigrants, running the US like a business (which is what all Presidents of any stripe did in the past) and denouncing green economics for the unproven tripe that it is – all the hallmarks of good sense.

    And the media… really need a shake-up. I hope GB News proves to be exactly that.

  46. GaryK
    May 5, 2021

    The uk Tory govt ministers will never be close to Biden ’cause he is his own man and can see right throught the Tory right wing BS.. more than that he is a decent human person and has a deep respect and compassion for his fellow man.. will anyone out there tell me I am wrong

    1. Peter2
      May 6, 2021

      yes I will

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